Fiery
as ever, Bola Ahmed Tinubu spoke
with passion about the failure of leadership in the country with Vanguard
Newspaper. He actually accorded President Goodluck Jonathan the respect
deserving of the holder of the Office of the President and Commander-in-Chief, Tinubu, nonetheless, did not shy away
from stating his views on how leadership in Nigeria appears to be going to the
dogs. Did he meet with President
Jonathan before the elections, “Yes, we met”, he declared; but he
was quick to add that he never reached any deal for personal gains. Rather, he
impressed it on Jonathan the need
not to breach the contract entered into with Nigerians. Today, however, even Tinubu himself feels betrayed and
disillusioned.
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| Bola Ahmed Tinubu |
But
you would need to read this explosive interview – mind you, according to
Vangaurd Newspaper, the second part is even more explosive as you would find
out at the end of this part. Excerpts:
Q: All these that you are saying now
appear strange because just before that election that brought Jonathan to
power, you were seen as a beautiful bride?
(Cuts in) I
thought I was
For
you to sound this frustrated and even express the fear about the President now
sends a signal. You met with Jonathan before the election and we had that
you reached a deal with him? Or was there no deal, for instance, on what
and what you would like him to do for the country when he becomes President
because from the way you’ve spoken, it appears as if some agreements were
breached?
Tinubu: There was no deal between me and
the President prior to the election. There was only the plea. We met, I won’t
lie. I’ve known the President since he was a deputy governor. And God and
Nigerian people have placed him where he is and I must respect him. I believe
that he should be fair and he should believe in constitutional democracy.
I
believe he was meant to become Acting President based on the turn of events and
as the Constitution provided for.
And
when our proposed alliance didn’t work, I left my options open. We had a
discussion about the stability of this country and the rule of law, the
development of this country. That there will be adequate consultations,
there will be effective consultations; there will be fairness.
Democracy,
constitutional democracy, would be allowed to flourish and good ideas would be
allowed to flow and pursued for the greatness of our country. So we
discussed all these points. I didn’t make any bargain for myself. I didn’t ask
for it and I didn’t need it.
Q: That was the context of the deal I
meant?
Tinubu: For myself!
No!
I mean the issues discussed and possibly agreed on as conditions for your
support?
Okay. I challenge anybody to publish it if there was a private arrangement
or deal with me, including the President, let him come out and tell Nigerians,
please speak now or keep them quiet forever.
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| Bola Ahmed Tinubu |
We
met, no lie about that.
Look
at the issue of subsidy removal. Our party’s position on that is clear –
yes, if the subsidy was to be removed, how do we make a long term plan for it
so that it would not affect the masses in an adverse manner.
We
summarized our position and gave it to the President.
What
happened to all the beautiful ideas you bounced off the President? They were never accepted. They said we would meet again but we were never
invited back and all we had was that subsidy had been removed.
Q: So how come you trusted such a
person?
Tinubu: You are asking me! I think
there are fifth columnists in Jonathan’s administration, in that cabinet.
Some people just wanted to set him up for disgrace with wrong advice. How do
you advise the President to remove subsidy on the 1st of January, the beginning
of an accounting year; the beginning of a new year when people have traveled.
Why
not 5th of January? What was there to be benefited from the January 1
date? What image are you trying to make of this man?
Or
what image was the man trying to push out for himself because he is the
President and he should think decisions through before they become policy?
Okay
that is another angle. But he cannot just come from the toilet or from his
bedroom and say he wants to remove subsidy suddenly.
Q: That is his problem as
President. What if he woke up from the wrong side of the bed?
Tinubu: Wrong side of the bed! I don’t
see any side of the bed that is wrong. Then you break the social contract with
the people who voted for you.
You
didn’t even set some programmes in place to cushion the effect of what you are
trying to go and you just decided. If you call Ashok Leyland or Mercedez
and say bring your plant into this country and make thousands of buses, you’ll
get waivers and I’m going to buy up the buses, do you think they won’t come and
set up plants here? You give them a guarantee. You rehabilitate the
rail system first before jumping into subsidy removal. Meanwhile you are
earning handsomely from the international price of crude oil, yet you jump to
remove subsidy? It’s inhuman.
